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Tuesday, March 29, 2016

The Story Of a White Card Stock

Hello Friends,

I am Neha (Periwinkle Creations) here. It feels good to be back after a very long time on this blog! Thank you Priya for giving me this opportunity! Today, I am here to talk about a white card stock which has been launched by The Craft Shop, recently - Bielo!

If you know me, I am always looking for the best white card stock as that is the heart and soul of my cards. In past, I found Neenah (which is US brand ) and I love it. I still do. For around a year that was my staple...:) . But I like to keep some options ready as consistent availability of a product depends on so many variable factors and hence I keep on trying different papers whenever it is possible. Few months back I found this paper and at first, I was in disbelief that I found my dream card stock.( you don't have to believe any of my words...just try once and you will know I am not at all exaggerating) I happily used it for few months and thought of sharing with Priya. She was really impressed with it and told me she will look for it. Time passed and I even forgot that I shared it with her. Last week, she called me to say that she found a source for the paper and she has imported it. And that's how I got to write this post.

So here it is... all-in-one card stock which will be loved by all kind of crafters. Doesn't matter if you work with distress inks or do stamping with dye ,pigment or archival inks. It works with copics and water colours too. It gives smooth ink blending and most detailed stamped images. Yes, you hear me right - it does it all.

- It is 300 GSM card stock so excellent for card base and works well as single layer cards too.

- It is natural white means not too yellowish not to bluish. Both warm (pinks & reds) and cold blues,greens, neutrals & greys) colours look good on this white.

- It is so smooth that I can recognize it just by the touch in the pile of all white CS. This smooth surface gives very even stamped images and excellent ink blending.

- Its absorbency is so balanced that inks won't stay on surface and fade away after a while and yet you will have enough time to blend it well.

- It can take water colours quite well. It does not swell and change texture as you must have experienced it with many other card stock. It does not warp much after drying.

- It works excellent with copic markers. You don't have to do much efforts to get that pro-like

finishing.

- Distress inks blend like butter on it. You can layer inks beautifully and it gives vibrant results.

- It works equally well with both pigment and dye inks. Even memento inks gives crisp results.

- Being 300 gsm it does not warp much during heat embossing.

Let's check the cards to see it in action.

I have used memento & wplus9 dye inks for all the stamping. water, rocks and clouds are made using distress inks. You can check they are crisp, even stamped images like boat and light house. The stamps are by papertrey ink from Priya!

As you all know pigment inks stay on the surface of paper. So if your paper has a little bit of texture you will not get even solid image. This paper is smooth so look at the crisp an even stamping. Not once, not twice...every time. I stamped multiple times to create this background so you can see how consistent impression you get all the times. This stamps are the mix of solid and detailed parts. The middle parts of borders are solid while edges has all those thin lines and you can see both works beautifully on this paper. I have used colorbox inks and Avery Elle and Wplus9 stamps. (These two are my favourite stamps for giving traditional indian touch to my cards.

The stamp set is by Winnie and Walter . I have used MS cake puch to cut those mini cup cakes and coloured the die cut using copics.

I have a video to show how easy I colour with copics. I have listed all the shades of copics in there. I am a beginner at video making so pardon the quality and lighting.

As you can see in the video and on the card that copics blend easily on this CS.

See the back of the panel (picture below) . Colours don't bleed that much on this CS.

When you are colouring with alcohol markers always colour on a separate panel and mount it on your base as they bleed a lot.

4. Using Water colours

For this card I have embossed flowers (Jane's Doodles stamps) in black On a 4.5 x5.5 piece of CS. As it is thick it doesn't warp after heat embossing.(first pic.) I wanted to have that stucco look for the background so I applied multiple layers of hickory smoke distress inks with brush and lots of water. I allowed it to dry in-between layers to achieve that stucco plaster like finish. Flowers are done with Mustard seed DI . Colours blend easily and paper do not change its texture even with lots of water.

it does not warp much in spite of water and colours don't bleed trough back.

Aren't you falling for it yet?

5. Distress ink blending

I have used cracked pistachio and blue print DI to make this bookmark. see how you can create layers with same ink . It also allows water to react with ink and you can easily lift up the ink with paper towel to create splatters.

All in all, this is very versatile CS and you don't have to keep variety of papers for different kind of techniques. I shared whatever I could....now it is your turn to try and share your experiences with us. We would love to hear your feedback on the same.

SO much of thought behind the card stock ! I looked only for color & gsm while purchasing.Now that I have heard from an expert I am adding it to my buying list :) Your cards so crisp n clean when it comes to design and clever in terms of thought !

What a post Neha!!You are tempting even me to go buy the cardstock !And Yes I love that Priya does take our recommendations seriously. Once I posted on FB how much I loved Poppy Stamps and if sellers would stock it...I was so happy she got it on her shop!